Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Perennial herbs arising from rhizomes; stems 20-100 cm tall, glabrous to tomentose. Leaves: Alternate and sessile, mostly cauline; the blades entire, shallowly lobed (most often), or deeply pinnatifid, 1-9 cm long, up to 2 cm wide, usually uniformly tomentose but can be floccose or glabrate on upper surface; color is variable and can be gray-green, green, white, or bicolor with green on the upper surface and white below. Flowers: Flower heads disciform, sessile or drooping on peduncles, arranged in usually compact panicles; involucre (the ring of bracts surrounding the flower head) 2-4 mm long, usually campanulate, the bracts (phyllaries) densely tomentose or glabrous, with scarious (papery) margins; florets all discs, with yellow corollas, sometimes red-tinged, including 6-45 bisexual florets surrounded by 5-12 pistillate florets. Fruits: Achenes glabrous, ellipsoid, about 0.5 mm. Ecology: Found in a variety of habitats including exposed slopes, forests, woodlands, and sandy floodplains from 2,500-8,500 ft (760-2590 m); flowers August-November. Distribution: All of N. Amer. including every state in the US; south to C. Amer. Notes: A common but variable species of many North American regions and climates. Distinguished by its perennial, herbaceous growth form; aromatic, gray-green foliage often covered in a mat of tangled hairs; the leaves sometimes simple but most often divided into lobes 0.5-1 cm wide (thinner lobes in other local Artemisia spp.), each lobe often with a point at the end. Easily confused with A. carruthii but leaves are larger with wider, more robust lobes (vs. smaller leaves with thin linear lobes in A. carruthii). These two species may hybridize. Five subspecies are found in AZ: subsp. albula; subsp. ludoviciana; subsp. mexicana; subsp. redolens (rare); and subsp. sulcata. Characters distinguishing among the subspecies are related to leaf shape, color, and pubescence. The species- hardiness, wide range of native habitats, and -mat-like- growth form make it potentially valuable in soil and vegetation restoration efforts. It is a host plant for Painted Lady butterfly. Ethnobotany: Branches used in sweathouses. Used throughout the Intermountain west as a medicinal bitter, a purifying and cleansing plant, and for making towels. Etymology: Artemisia is named for Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt and namesake of Artemisia, queen of Anatolia; ludoviciana means of or from Louisiana (referring specifically to the Louisiana Purchase). Synonyms: None Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2014, AHazelton 2015